Saturday, 18 March 2017

2018 Mercedes-Benz G-Class Prototypes Spied Testing Towing Capacity

ne of the vehicles that occupy a position in the top three of our spyshots section this year has to be the next-gen Mercedes-Benz G-Class. The W464 prototypes seem to be everywhere these days and we're back with another piece of spy footage showing the offroader.

The video, which you can find at the bottom of the page, reveals a pair of G Wagons performing towing tests - both vehicles spied here were consciously handling their trailer duties.

The towing capacity of the next G is obviously an important detail and while we're talking weight, we'll remind you the Mercedes-Benz is expected to go on a serious diet. The new platform should allow the rugged terrain machine to become up to 400 kilos (880 lbs) lighter, all while growing in width, which will seriously boost cabin space.

Speaking of the interior, we've already shown you various bits of the dashboard, such as the instrument cluster or the rounded air vents - forget the digital craze taking over the car world, the Gelandewagen will stay true to its roots, maintaining analog dials.

Infotainment fans shouldn't fret, though, as the vehicle will pack the large 12.3-inch central display seen on the S-Class and E-Class, all without the add-on positioning of the current G-Class. In case you missed the leaked dashboard, you can find it here.

While the wild side of the rumor mill expects the G-Class to receive the 48V electric system that will allow the upcoming S-Class facelift to offer mild hybrid assistance, the rugged focus of the model could mean engineers will skip this feature for the once-military offroader, but it's still too early to tell.

And to end this story on a high horse(power) note, we'll mention that the automaker's 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8, in multiple stages of tune, will serve an important part of the new G-Class line-up, namely the G550/G500 and G63. So we''re not exactly dealing with a gentle giant here.